John Berry
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Free tennis tips, best bets and analysis for the French Open men’s semi-finals at Roland Garros in Paris on Friday.
Where to watch
Eurosport, from 1pm Friday
Best bets
Alexander Zverev to win under 17.5 games v Rafael Nadal
1pt 5-6 bet365
Casper Ruud to beat Marin Cilic & both players to win a set
1pt 8-5 bet365
Men’s French Open semi-finals
Rafael Nadal has once again shown why you write him off at your peril and having been 9-2 for French Open glory on the eve of the tournament, the super Spaniard is now 1-2 to rule Roland Garros for a 14th time.
Nadal became the most successful male in tennis history by winning January’s Australian Open, which provided him with a record-setting 21st Grand Slam title.
A little over four months on and Nadal has shrugged aside injury fears in the build-up to the French Open to move within two wins of his 22nd Major crown.
The King of Clay has won the French Open title 13 times from just 17 visits to Paris and heads into his semi-final showdown with Alexander Zverev having dethroned defending champion Novak Djokovic last time out.
Zverev took care of one Spaniard in Carlos Alcaraz in the quarter-final and is 5-2 to add the mighty Majorcan to his hit list, while the other last-four duel sees rising Norwegian star Casper Ruud meet 2014 US Open champion and one-time world number three Marin Cilic.
Rafael Nadal v Alexander Zverev
The red clay-courts of Paris have been the perfect fit for Nadal over the years and only once in 17 attempts has he failed to convert a French Open semi-final appearance into silverware.
That semi-final exit came last year when Nadal fell in four sets to Djokovic but having exacted some revenge on the Serb in this year’s quarter-final, he will be determined to go all the way.
Zverev has become a regular in the business end of Grand Slams and has reached the semi-finals in five of his last nine Major appearances, which includes in back-to-back years at Roland Garros.
However, the evidence of the Spaniard’s 6-2 4-6 6-2 7-6 win over Djokovic, which came on the back of a gruelling five-set battle with Felix Auger-Aliassime, suggests his supposed fitness flaws are of little concern.
Nadal insists having his personal doctor Angel Ruiz Cotorro with him in Paris has been the catalyst behind an improved showing from Rome and he can win this semi-final a shade cosily.
Despite beating Djokovic in four sets – plus the final set came in a tiebreak – the Serb racked up only 16 games, which may make Zverev’s estimated total of 17.5 look a touch high.
Only one of the 18 sets Nadal has contested in this event has featured a tiebreak while there hasn’t been one in any of his last seven meetings with Zverev, so some sets may be snappy.
Nadal should have his optimum conditions, too, and will clearly have the unrelenting support of a loyal French crowd.
Casper Ruud v Marin Cilic
Cilic makes a belated first French Open semi-final appearance following wins over Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev, but the seasoned Croat may be found wanting against the younger legs of Ruud.
Medevedev has always looked vulnerable on this surface while Rublev has been kept busy throughout the European clay-court season and missed out only via a deciding-set tiebreak.
Ruud, on the other hand, has seven titles to his name on the terrain and can be considered a clay-court specialist, so Cilic may well need to up his game again if he is going to bridge his 0-2 head-to-head record against the Norwegian.
But while the Oslo native, a four-set quarter-final victor over Denmark’s Holger Rune, is expected to come out on top, he has dropped sets in four of his five wins in the French capital. And there are bound to be some nerves given that this is undoubtedly the biggest match of his career.
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